Monday, May 18, 2009

Feeling Humble

So today when I logged on I saw that I had 15 followers. Wow! I've had my blog up for just over a week and already 15 people are following me...and only 3 are people I know, talk about humbling. I'm absolutely amazed. When I started this blog and my dreams of starting a genealogy scrapbooking business I thought to myself "Who else could possibly be as passionate as I am about genealogy and scrapbooking?" I have many friends who are into scrapbooking and absolutely amazing at what they do (just check out some of the blogs I follow). But only a couple of my friends also share my passion for family history and genealogy. So I really didn't expect to have more that a handful of people following my blog. Not only that, but have you seen Geneabloggers this week. They list 12 new genealogy blogs this week which, if you haven't already done so, you should check out. There are some excellent blogs listed and I am also humbled to have been included in this list. One that I especially liked was the one from Family Tree Magazine. If you are new to genealogy or are stuck at a brick wall there's a good chance you will find answers here.

Now I have to humble myself even more and make a confession. A while ago I challenged you to join me in scrapbooking the saying "Home is where our story begins". So on Saturday I went down to my scrapbooking space to start on this project. Well, before I could start I needed to clean up a few things first. Before I knew it I was into a complete overhaul and reorganization. You see, before I recently joined the local genealogy group and started this blog it had been about 4 years since I had done any real indepth research on my family roots. At the time I had hit a brick wall in my research and reached the point where the only way I was going to get any further was with a research trip back to England . I had gleaned as much as I could from the internet and now needed to get into actual parish registers to go any further. As I could not afford to return to England I had put my own research aside and spent time helping others with their research. Of course, as we all know, the internet grows and changes daily. Realizing this, I am now ready to try again and see what new information I can find, especially now that many parish registers have been put online. One of the first places I intend to start is with the 1911 censuswhich is also now online. One of my brick walls was with my grandfather who passed away when my mother was very young. All we know about him at this point is his name was Thomas Owen and he was born in Wales. That's like trying to find John Smith born in America. Maybe the 1911 census will give us some more information. Anyway, in order to proceed I had to go through some of my old paperwork and reorganize and refocus. Suffice to say I didn't get my scrapbooking project done but I did get some important paper sorting done. While doing so I came across an old letter that my mom had received from a relative many years ago when she was researching our family history (remember the snail mail thing). In it was some news that broke my heart. I will share that news with you tomorrow because it totally changed the way I do my family history work. Brace yourselves fellow genealogists because what I will share with you will break your hearts. Some of you will have already encountered similar heartbreak and perhaps have already changed how you do things but others may reconsider how they handle things after hearing this. Stay tuned.

3 comments:

Thanks for the Geneabloggers shout out. One of the hallmarks of our members is their ability to welcome new blogs and new people and be very supportive. You have a great blog and it is only natural that people are following you!

As to obtaining English records, I have found -- though not really acted on the knowledge yet! -- that county Public Records Officers (PROs) offer microfiche or other forms of documents that you can mail-order. I need to get on the ball and place my order with the Suffolk PRO to get information about my family. My ancestor left England in 1638, so you see I have to go WAY back!

Don't forget that many of the parish records have been microfilmed and are available through Family History Centers. So if you live close enough to one, you can order them in. Check the catalog at www.familysearch.org to see what is available. Only a few have digitized at this point.

Welcome to my blog. Scrap Your Roots is all about preserving our family history for future generations to enjoy. I hope by visiting this blog you will be inspired to preserve your own family history for your family to enjoy!

About Me

I have been scrapbooking and researching my family history for over 10 years. I have been married for 23 years to the most wonderful and supportive husband, Roy and I have 2 amazing sons - David, 20 and Mark, 15. I love to organize and can't resist a trendy new organizing product. I'm also happily addicted to coffee and chocolate!